I'm in SE Michigan, but I''m with you, John. I won the battle this year in the pesticide department. By the way, a neighbor is also letting clover colonize in his yard for the bees. I am in heaven. Thank you for this post.

We have never used pesticides, and thankfully our neighbors do not either. I love our dandelions and our multi-culture lawns that were cow pastures long ago, and home to our horses slightly less long ago. The dandelions, clovers, and other plants nourished healthy, well-fed livestock as well as supporting pollinators and other wildlife. With our horses now grazing in greener pastures, and a mower replacing them, I still pick dandelion greens for use in salads and stir fries, and add a sprig or two of mint (that grows in the wetter areas of our lawns) to a glass of iced tea on hot summer days.

Every fall I will pull out a bunch of dandelions to roast the root for dandelion coffee. It tastes remarkably like a dark roast coffee with none of the caffeine.

Dandelions are a welcome spring "flower" for me--one of the first spring visitors. Hope I have happy bumblebees!

Saw our first of the season big fat bumblebee yesterday. We are fortunate to live in a rural area where I don't think anyone manicures their lawns. But my husband does like to mow. We leave a wild strip adjacent to the vegetable garden to encourage beneficials and we also have areas that only get mowed once a year. Dandelions have just started blooming. Borage is a great herb to attract bees. I usually get a few plants to show up every year in a corner of the vegetable garden. I have to pull out some of it because the plants can get quite large. Flowers are a pretty blue and taste somewhat like cucumbers.